Hawai‘i Island Festival Announced

September 25, 2025 • Addison Ching • Festivals and Conventions

The 2025 Hawai‘i Island Steel Guitar Experience at Mauna Lani will be held on November 13-16, 2025 at the Mauna Lani, Auberge Resorts Collection in Waimea, Hawai‘i.

The comprehensive festival includes visits to local area schools, workshops, Open Stage performances, nightly public kanikapila, a concert featuring popular steel guitarists, a steel guitar exhibit, and performances at the reesort's HāLani Restaurant.

The Mauna Lani's monthly Twilight at Kalāhuipua‘a cultural program at the Eva Parker Woods Cottage will be held during this this year's festival and will feature steel guitar entertainment by festival musicians. The program is scheduled for Saturday evening on November 15.

Steel guitarists committed to this year's event so far include Alan Akaka, Bobby Ingano, Mālie Lyman, Geronimo "Geri" Valdriz, and Hawai‘i Island steel guitarists Pomaika‘i Brown and Dwight Tokumoto. NextGEN steel guitarists participating in this year's festival include Hi‘ipoi Lindsey, Isaac Woodward, and Charlie Ahuna. Additional artists will be announced when their participation is confirmed.

Both the ho‘olaule‘a concert on Friday and Open Stage performances on Saturday will be livestreamed on the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase's Facebook page and YouTube Channel.

Open stage participation requests can be submitted using the contact form on the festival's website Contact Page. Participation is open to any Hawaiian steel guitarist or band with a Hawaiian steel guitar. See the contact form for more information.

This year's festival will be the seventh at the Mauna Lani. First presented in 2017 when the resort was known as the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows, the festival has evolved over the years and is now expanded to a four-day event at the Mauna Lani, Auberge Resorts Collection and is coordinated with the resort's monthly Twilight at Kalāhuipua‘a cultural program at the Eva Parker Woods cottage on the resort grounds.

The festival's schedule has been adjusted over the years to accommodate the resort's yearlong renovation project and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the festival was rebranded as the "Hawaiian Steel Guitar Experience at Mauna Lani" to suggest a more intimate experience at the resort.